Excursions with Achiever

Our research vessel, Achiever, just returned from an amazing trip. Here’s a excerpt from Raincoast Education Associate, Nathaniel Glickman’s blog post about the trip:⠀

“Situated at the mouth of an unlogged watershed in the shared territories of the Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk) and ʔuwik’inuxʷ (Oweekeno) First Nations, Kvai (Koeye) camp is what I believe to be the best summer camp on earth. For the last 21 years, three generations of the Housty family (through the Qqs Projects) have been running a camp for youth in this remote part of the BC coast. ⠀⠀It is a place steeped in the traditions of people who have lived in this land since time immemorial, while also embracing the evolving modern world. Youth ages 7-15 years old come to learn the culture that their parents and grandparents were widely prohibited from learning. They come to engage with the landscape, building relationships with the plants and animals which sustained prosperous communities for millennia. They practice the art of consilience – pairing traditional ecological knowledge alongside scientific methodologies. And finally, and maybe most importantly, they have a retreat to be kids, to laugh and play, and make new friends. ⠀Raincoast has been fortunate to play a small role in what Qqs does in this incredible place. Every August, students from Raincoast’s Applied Conservation Science Lab, at the University of Victoria, and Raincoast educators board our 66 ft sailboat Achiever, head north across Cape Caution and lead Science Week.⠀⠀There are innumerous aspects of this magical place that warrant my claim of Kvai being the best kids camp on earth. To keep it brief I will discuss these important factors: the location, the ecosystem, and the teachings.”⠀⠀📷 One Island Media